HE    PRESIDENT 
ON  THE  WAR 


THE  UNITED  STATES 
IN  THE  20th  CENTURY 

In  Graham's 
Standard  Phonography 


NEW  YORK. 
ANDREW  J.  GRAHAM  k   CO. 

THE  WINTHROP  PRE6S,    NEW  YORK 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressesbypresiOOmckiiala 


ADDRESSES 

BY 

president  Mckinley 

AND 

SENATOR  0.  K.  DAVIS 


IN  THE 

REPORTING   STYLE 

OF 

GRAHAM'S 
STANDARD  PHONOGRAPHY 


NEW  YORK 

ANDREW  J.  GRAHAM  &  CO. 

744  Broadway 


Copyright,  1899,  bj  amuu.w  .1.  Qbahah  >v  Co, 


M^U 


PRESIDENT   McKINLEY'S  ADDRESS 

ON 

THE     WAR      WITH      SPAIN 
Delivered  at  the  Omaha  Exposition,  October,   1898. 


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THE  PRESIDENT  ON  THE  WAR. 


HIS   ADDRESS   AT   THE   PEACE  JUBILEE    OF    THE    OMAHA    EXPOSITION. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  Exposition  and  Fellow- 
Citizens:  It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  meet  once  more  the 
people  of  Omaha,  whose  wealth  of  welcome  is  not  altogether 
unfamiliar  to  me,  and  whose  warm  hearts  have  before  touched 
and  moved  me.  For  this  renewed  manifestation  of  your  regard, 
and  for  the  cordial  reception  of  to-day,  my  heart  responds  with 
profound  gratitude  and  a  deep  appreciation  which  I  cannot  con- 
ceal, and  which  the  language  of  compliment  is  inadequate  to 
convey. 

My  greeting  is  not  alone  to  your  city  and  the  State  of  Nebras- 
ka, but  to  the  people  of  all  the  States  of  the  Trans-Mississippi 
group  participating  here,  and  I  cannot  withhold  congratulations 
on  the  evidences  of  their  prosperity  furnished  by  this  great 
Exposition.  If  testimony  were  needed  to  establish  the  fact  that 
their  pluck  has  not  deserted  them,  and  that  prosperity  is  again 
with  them,  it  is  found  here.     This  picture  dispels  all  doubt. 

In  an  age  of  expositions  they  have  added  yet  another  magnifi- 
cent example.  The  historical  celebrations  at  Philadelphia  and 
Chicago  and  the  splendid  exhibits  at  New  Orleans,  Atlanta  and 
Nashville  are  now  a  part  of  the  past,  and  yet  in  influence  they 
still  live  and  their  beneficent  results  are  closely  interwoven  with 
our  National  development.  Similar  rewards  will  honor  the 
authors  and  patrons  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  Exposition.  Their 
contribution  will  mark  another  epoch  in  the  Nation's  material 
advancement. 

One  of  the  great  laws  of  life  is  progress,  and  nowhere  have 
the  principles  of  this  law  been  so  strikingly  illustrated  as  in  the 
United  States.      A  century  and  a   decade  of  our   National  life 


PRESIDENT  OX  THE   WAR.  15 

have  turned  doubt  into  conviction  ;  changed  experiment  into 
demonstration ;  revolutionized  old  methods  and  won  new 
triumphs,  which  have  challenged  the  attention  of  the  world. 
This  is  true  not  only  of  the  accumulation  of  material  wealth 
and  advance  in  education,  science,  invention  and  manufactures, 
but,  above  all,  in  the  opportunities  to  the  people  for  their  own 
elevation,  which  have  been  secured  by  wise  free  government. 

Hitherto,  in  peace  and  in  war,  with  additions  to  our  territory 
and  slight  changes  in  our  laws,  we  have  steadily  enforced  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution  secured  to  us  by  the  noble  self-sacrifice 
and  far-seeing  sagacity  of  our  ancestors.  We  have  avoided  the 
temptations  of  conquest  in  the  spirit  of  gain.  With  an  increas- 
ing love  for  our  institutions,  and  an  abiding  faith  in  their 
stability,  we  have  made  the  triumphs  of  our  system  of  govern- 
ment in  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  our  people  an  inspiration 
to  the  whole  human  race.  Confronted  at  this  moment  by  new 
and  grave  problems,  we  must  recognize  that  their  solution  will 
not  affect  ourselves  alone,  but  others  of  the  family  of  nations. 

In  this  age  of  frequent  interchange  and  mutual  depend- 
ency, we  cannot  shirk  our  international  responsibilities  if  we 
would;  they  must  be  met  with  courage  and  wisdom,  and  we 
must  follow  duty  even  if  desire  opposes.  No  deliberation  can 
be  too  mature  or  self-control  too  constant  in  this  solemn  hour  of 
our  history.  We  must  avoid  the  temptation  of  undue  aggression 
and  aim  to  secure  only  such  results  as  will  promote  our  own  and 
the  general  good. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  one  that  the  normal  condition  of 
nations  is  war.  That  is  not  true  of  the  United  States.  We 
never  enter  upon  war  until  every  effort  for  peace  without  it  has 
been  exhausted.  Ours  has  never  been  a  military  Government. 
Peace,  with  whose  blessings  we  have  been  so  singularly  favored, 
is  the  national  desire  and  the  goal  of  every  American  aspiration. 

On  April  25th  for  the  first  time  for  more  than  a  generation  the 
United  States  sounded  the  call  to  arms.  The  banners  of  war 
were  unfurled,  the  best  and  bravest  from  every  section  respond- 
ed ;  a  mighty  army  was  enrolled  ;  the  North  and  the  South  vied 
with  each  other  in  patriotic  devotion  ;  science  was  invoked  to  fur- 
nish its  most  effective  weapons  ;  factories  were  rushed  to  supply 


16  PRESIDENT  ON  THE   WAR. 

equipments,  the  youth  and  the  veteran  joined  in  freely  offering 
their  services  to  the  country,  volunteers  and  regulars  and  all  the 
people  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  Republic.  There  was  no 
break  in  the  line,  no  halt  in  the  march,  no  fear  in  the  heart,  no 
resistance  to  the  patriotic  impulse  at  home,  no  successful  resist- 
ance to  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  troops  fighting  in  distant  waters 
or  on  a  foreign  shore. 

What  a  wonderful  experience  it  has  been  from  the  standpoint 
of  patriotism  and  achievement !  The  storm  broke  so  suddenly 
that  it  was  here  almost  before  we  realized  it.  Our  Navy  was 
too  small,  though  forceful  with  its  modern  equipment,  and  most 
fortunate  in  its  trained  officers  and  sailors.  Our  Army  had 
years  ago  been  reduced  to  a  peace  footing.  We  had  only  nine- 
teen thousand  available  troops  when  the  war  was  declared,  but 
the  account  which  officers  and  men  gave  of  themselves  on  the 
battlefields  has  never  been  surpassed.  The  manhood  was  there 
and  everywhere.  American  patriotism  was  there,  and  its  re- 
sources were  limitless. 

The  courageous  and  invincible  spirit  of  the  people  proved 
glorious,  and  those  who  a  little  more  than  a  third  of  a  century 
ago  were  divided  and  at  war  with  each  other  were  again  united 
under  the  holy  standard  of  liberty.  Patriotism  banished  party 
feeling  ;  fifty  million  of  dollars  for  the  National  defence  was  ap- 
propriated without  debate  or  division,  as  a  matter  of  course  and 
as  only  a  mere  indication  of  our  mighty  reserve  power. 

But  if  this  is  true  of  the  beginning  of  the  war,  what  shall  we 
say  of  it  now,  with  hostilities  suspended  and  peace  near  at  hand, 
as  we  fervently  hope  ?  Matchless  in  its  results,  unequaled  in 
its  completeness  and  the  quick  success  with  which  victory  fol- 
lowed victory,  attained  earlier  than  it  was  believed  to  be  possi- 
ble, so  comprehensive  in  its  sweep  that  every  thoughtful  man 
feels  the  weight  of  responsibility  which  has  been  so  suddenly 
thrust  upon  us  !  And,  above  all  and  beyond  all,  the  valor  of  the 
American  Army  and  the  bravery  of  the  American  Navy  and  the 
majesty  of  the  American  name  stand  forth  in  unsullied  glory, 
while  the  humanity  of  our  purposes  and  the  magnanimity  of 
our  conduct  have  given  to  war,  always  horrible,  touches  ©f  noble 
generosity,    Christian  sympathy  and  charity,  and  examples  of 


PRESIDENT  ON  THE   WAR.  17 

human  grandeur  which  can  never  be  lost  io  mankind.  Passion 
and  bitterness  formed  no  part  of  our  impelling  motive,  and  it  is 
gratifying  to  feel  that  humanity  triumphed  at  every  step  of  the 
war's  progress. 

The  heroes  of  Manila  and  Santiago  and  Porto  Rico  have  made 
immortal  history.  They  are  worthy  successors  and  descendents 
of  Washington  and  Greene  ;  of  Paul  Jones,  Decatur  and  Hull, 
and  of  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan  and  Logan  ;  of  Farragut. 
Porter  and  Cushing,  and  of  Lee,  Jackson  and  Longstreet.  New 
names  stand  out  on  the  honor  roll  of  the  Nation's  great  men, 
and  with  them,  unnamed,  stand  the  heroes  of  the  trenches  and 
the  forecastle,  invincible  in  battle  and  uncomplaining  in  death. 
The  intelligent,  loyal,  indomitable  soldier  and  sailor  and 
marine,  regular  and  volunteer,  are  entitled  to  equal  praise  as 
having  dbne  their  whole  duty,  whether  at  home  or  under  the 
baptism  of  foreign  fire.  Who  will  dim  the  splendor  of  their 
achievements?  Who  will  withhold  from  them  their  well-earned 
distinction  ?  Who  will  intrude  detraction  at  this  time  to  belittle 
the  manly  spirit  of  the  American  youth  and  impair  the  useful- 
ness of  the  American  Navy  !  Who  will  embarrass  the  Govern- 
ment by  sowing  seeds  of  dissatisfaction  among  the  brave  men 
who  stand  ready  to  serve  and  dje  if  need  be  for  their  country? 
WTho  will  darken  the  counsels  of  the  Republic  in  this  hour  requir- 
ing the  united  wisdom  of  all?  Shall  we  deny  to  ourselves  what 
the  rest  of  the  world  so  freely  and  so  justly  accords  to  us?  The 
men  who  endured  in  the  short  but  decisive  struggle  its  hard- 
ships, its  privations,  whether  in  the  field  or  in  the  camp,  on  ship 
or  in  siege,  and  planned  and  achieved  its  victories,  will  never 
tolerate  an  impeachment,  either  direct  or  indirect,  of  those  who 
won  a  peace  whose  great  gain  to  civilization  is  yet  unknown  and 
unwritten. 

The  faith  of  a  Christian  nation  recognizes  the  hand  of  Almighty 
God  in  the  ordeal  through  which  we  have  passed.  Divine  favor 
seemed  manifest  everywhere.  In  fighting  for  humanity's  sake 
we  have  been  signally  blest.  We  did  not  seek  war.  To  avoid  it, 
if  this  could  be  done  in  justice  and  honor  to  the  rights  of  our 
neighbors  and  ourselves,  was  our  constant  prayer.  The  war 
was  no  more  invited  by  us  than  were  the  questions  which  are 


18  PRESIDENT  ON  THE    WAR. 

laid  at  our  door  by  its  results.  Now,  as  then,  we  will  do  our 
c'uiy.  The  problems  will  not  be  solved  in  a  day.  Patience  will 
be  required  ;  patience,  combined  with  sincerity  of  purpose,  and 
unshaken  resolution  to  do  right,  seeking  only  the  highest  good 
of  the  Nation  and  recognizing  no  other  obligation,  pursuing  no 
other  path  but  that  of  duty. 

Right  action  follows  right  purpose.  We  may  not  at  all  times 
be  able  to  divine  the  future,  the  way  may  not  always  seem  clear, 
but  if  our  aims  are  high  and  unselfish,  somehow  and  in  some 
way  the  right  end  will  be  reached.  The  genius  of  the  Nation, 
its  freedom,  its  wisdom,  its  humanity,  its  courage,  its  justice 
favored  by  divine  providence,  will  make  it  equal  to  everv  task 
and  the  master  of  every  emergency. 


THE  UNITED  STATES 

IN   THE 

TWENTIETH  CENTURY. 


U.  S.  SENATOR   CUSHMAN    K.  DAVIS  S  VIEW  OF   OUR   PART    IN   A   GREAT 
SECULAR   CHANGE   IN   THE   WORLD. 


From  a  Speech  Delivered  at  St.  Paul  on  July  27,  i8g8. 


It  has  recently  been  revealed  with  astonishing  clearness  that 
the  civilization  of  Europe,  and  also  that  of  the  United  States 
particularly,  have  been  in  an  unconscious  process  of  preparation 
for  destinies  heretofore  unperceived.  In  what  manner  the  per- 
formance is  to  be  I  do  not  venture  to  predict.  To  do  so  would 
be  the  merest  speculative  temerity.  The  great  movements  of 
humanity  are  originated,  directed,  and  controlled  by  a  Supreme 
Power.  Man  merely  utilizes  them.  If  he  attempts  to  thwart 
them  they  crush  him.  No  State  ever  yet  succeeded  in  diverting 
any  of  the  purposes  or  ultimates  of  its  own  existence. 

It  is  now  apparent  to  the  least  attentive  observer  that  a  great 
secular  change  is  taking  place  throughout  the  world.  Ancient 
international  balances  have  become  unpoised.  Old  pivots  of 
equilibrium  have  ceased  to  be  central.  Commercial  and  terri- 
torial advantages  which,  until  recently,  seemed  to  be  impreg- 
nably  fortified  by  national  wealth,  by  military  and  naval  pre- 
ponderance, by  prestige,  alliance,  and  prescription,  have  been 
encroached  upon  and  endangered.  The  process  has  been 
irresistible.  It  has  not  been  solely  effected  by  wars  ;  they  have 
been  merely  its  instruments.  It  has  proceeded  with  the  calm, 
daily,  resistless  force  of  a  great  creative  operation  of  nature. 
Humanity  has  at  intervals  repeatedly  accomplished  such  move- 


20      THE  UNITED  STA  TES  IN  THE  20th  CENTUR  V. 

ments.  They  have  been  more  overpowering  than  conquests, 
more  enduring  than  empire — for  monarchies  have  been  built 
upon  their  surface,  have  encumbered  or  adorned  them  for  a 
little  time,  as  time  is  measured  in  the  life  of  nations,  and  then 
their  ruins  have  been  borne  along  in  the  august  and  unceasing 
procession.  The  mysterious  Aryan  migration  was  one  of  these 
evolutions.  It  went  around  the  world.  It  re-entered  India 
with  the  English.     It  is  now  forcing  its  entrance  into  China. 

The  results  of  the  mediaeval  impulse  or  inspiration  toward 
maritime  discovery  are  disclosed  in  history,  but  who  can  desig- 
nate the  cause  that  impelled  the  nations,  at  about  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  to  run  the  course  of  all  the  seas  until  by 
that  generation  America  was  discovered,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
was  circumnavigated,  the  Straits  of  Magellan  were  traversed  and 
until  great  ocean  held  no  secrets  that  were  not  locked  in  the  ice 
of  either  pole  ?  The  results  surpassed  any  political  conception 
ever  bodied  forth  by  statesman,  philosopher,  or  poet. 

It  has  always  remained  an  insoluble  problem  of  that  great 
achievement  of  discovery  and  conquest  why  China,  which  was 
even  then  in  the  decrepitude  of  age,  though  retaining  great 
wealth  with  all  the  tenacity  of  senile  avarice,  was  unmolested 
until  very  recently  by  the  forces  which  possessed  America  and 
the  Indies.  It  was,  when  the  age  of  discovery  began,  the  oldest 
empire  in  the  world  ;  it  was  the  largest  and  richest ;  it  contained 
one-fourth  of  the  human  race  and  it  was  easily  vulnerable. 
Why  did  England  limit  herself  to  India  ?  Why  did  Spain  stop  at 
Manila  ?  Why  did  the  Dutch  remain  satisfied  with  Java,  Borneo, 
Sumatra,  and  New  Guinea?  Why  was  France  content  with  her 
precarious  Indian  establishments  ?  Why  was  Portugal  stationary 
at  Goa,  Timor,  and  Macao? 

Why  China  was  spared  is,  perhaps,  a  profitless  speculation. 
We  now  encounter  the  fact  that  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  oldest,  the  most  populous,  and  one  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive and  richest  of  empires,  immobile  by  the  ossification  of 
an  immemorial  civilization  which  long  ago  did  its  work  ;  an  em- 
pire infected  all  throughout  with  official  imbecility  and  corrup- 
tion ;  an  empire  which  for  a  long  time  forcibly  resisted  the  in- 
fluences of  Western  civilization  and  then  submitted  to  them  little 


THE  UNITED  ST  A  TES  IN  THE  20th  CENTUR  Y.      2t 

by  little,  only  to  impede  them  by  feeble  and  crafty  evasions;  an 
empire  which  has  not  dissolved  in  its  decadence,  but  yet  remains 
in  respect  of  population  the  most  stupendous  national  unit  of 
this  or  any  age,  industrious,  productive,  selling  much  and  buy- 
ing little  even  now  as  in  her  remotest  ages  ;  which  for  thousands 
of  years  has  received  the  precious  metals  in  an  unreturning 
stream  ;  whose  inhabitants  are  skilled  in  all  crafts  and  possess 
unsurpassed  aptitudes  alike  for  mechanical  construction  and  for 
commerce;  an  empire  which  possesses  the  elements  of  national 
greatness  in  the  intelligence  of  its  people,  in  the  entire  absence 
of  caste,  in  the  absolute  personal  equality  of  all  men.  and  in 
their  eligibility  to  all  vocations  and  offices,  in  the  non-existence 
of  any  repressive  religious  system,  and  in  universal  education, 
has  all  at  once  yielded  without  resistance  to  the  encroachments 
of  Europe,  and  is  about  to  become,  as  literally  as  were  Mexico 
and  Peru,  the  subject  of  its  designs,  and  in  effect  its  territorial 
dependency.  History  has  nowhere  recorded  a  change  so  vast 
and  portentous.  It  involves  the  most  prodigious  expansion  of 
commerce  and  empire  ever  effected.  It  influences  the  relations 
of  all  civilized  States,  and  from  every  point  of  view  it  endangers 
the  safety  of  many  of  them.  In  all  respects  the  interests  of  the 
United  States  in  this  transformation  are  of  the  most  vital  char- 
acter. 

It  will  be  well  to  notice  certain  ethnic  and  national  phenomena 
contemporaneous  with  this  great  process  and  which  have  con- 
tributed to  it.  Within  the  present  century  the  nations  of  Europe 
have  politically  and  definitely  arranged  themselves  by  races. 
The  boundaries  of  empires  have  been  readjusted  to  this  classifi- 
cation. The  Slavonic,  the  Latin,  and  the  Teutonic  stocks  pre- 
sent themselves  nationally  and  most  determinately  in  this  aspect. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  race  had  long  before  classified  itself  into  two 
great  political  organizations. 

But  it  was  not  until  very  recently  that  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  looked  each  other  in  the  face  with  any  sign  of 
recognition  of  their  political  relationship.  It  is  well  for  them, 
for  civilization,  for  national  independence,  and  for  personal 
freedom  that  they  have  begun  to  do  so.  The  isolation  of  Eng- 
land from  the  other  States  of  Europe  is  manifest.     Her  isolation 


22       THE  I  'NIT ED  STATES  IN  THE  20th  CENTVR  V. 

from  the  United  States  has  always  existed,  and  principally  as 
the  result  of  petty  differences  as  to  boundaries,  fisheries,  sterile 
treaties,  and  small  conflicting  policies  in  other  respects.  The 
United  States  has  been  isolated  by  a  special  policy  and  by  its 
geographical  position.  This  coalescence  of  nationalities  has 
been  accompanied  by  a  vast  territorial  acquisition  by  the  Euro- 
pean States  by  which  the  continent  of  Africa  has  been  partitioned 
among  them.  The  boundaries  of  German  Africa,  French  Africa, 
Portuguese  Africa,  Spanish  Africa,  and  English  Africa  are  in 
coarse  of  definite  determination.  An  Italian  Africa  seemed 
probable  and  would  have  been  established  but  for  the  ability  of 
King  Menelek,  who  defeated  the  European  invaders  and  prac- 
tically expelled  them  from  his  kingdom.  It  is  now  asserted  that 
the  Abyssinian  monarch  was,  throughout  his  struggle  with  Italy, 
advised  and  aided  by  Russia,  and  that  we  may  expect  soon  to 
witness  a  Russian  Africa.  The  general  direction  of  this  move- 
ment in  Africa  is  toward  the  Orient.  Its  most  active  manifesta- 
tions and  capital  centres  are  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa  and  in 
Madagascar,  fronting  the  Indian  Ocean  and  looking  toward 
India. 

There  is  also  to  be  noticed  another  significant  eastward  tend- 
ency. Whether  it  is  a  mere  coincidence  or  is  a  part  of  the  gen- 
eral political  and  commercial  movement  is  at  present  purely 
conjectural.  It  is  not  a  conjectural  statement,  however,  that 
these  great  human  precessions  are  always  accompanied  by  an- 
cillary changes  of  pre-existing  forces  and  conditions  with  which 
their  connection  cannot  always  be  distinctly  perceived.  The 
centre  of  manufacturing  production  in  Europe  is  moving  east- 
ward. Germany  has  become  within  the  last  thirty  years  a  great 
manufacturing  nation.  She  has  ceased  to  be  a  market  in  any 
great  degree  for  any  other  country.  She  builds  her  own  ships. 
She  produces  an  infinite  variety  of  manufactured  articles  of  all 
kinds— textile,  metallic,  and  miscellaneous.  Her  sugar  product 
is  greater  than  that  of  any  other  country.  She  has  become  a 
great  maritime  and  commercial  nation  and  is  seeking  for  mar- 
kets with  astonishing  energy  in  South  America,  in  Africa,  and 
most  rapaciously  in  China,  where  she  has  recently  established 
herself  by  military  and_naval  force,  and   is  seriously  to  be  reck- 


THE  I  'jVI  TED  STATES  IX  THE  20th  CEN  TURY.      2  J 

oned  with  in  the  process  of  exploiting  her  power  in  that  great 
empire. 

The  movement  of  Russia  toward  the  East  is  not  a  mere 
tendency.  It  has  been  in  actual  operation  ever  since  Peier  the 
Great  sent  Vitus  Bering  overland  from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  sea 
which  bears  his  name.  It  is  now  exhibiting  its  Titanic  energy  in 
the  construction  of  the  trans-Siberian  railway.  This  under- 
taking has  accelerated  the  recent  action  of  the  other  European 
powers  in  regard  to  China,  and  has  stimulated  Japan  to 
exertions  which  will  soon  make  her  the  fourth  naval  power  of 
the  world.  It  will  conduct  a  stream  of  European  migration  into 
Asia.  This  route  to  the  Orient  portends  so  much  and  has  made  so 
secondary  the  importance  of  the  way  to  Constantinople,  in  com- 
parison with  this  greater  highway  toward  Asiatic  empire,  that 
the  guideboard  which  Catherine  set  up  at  Kherson  and  inscribed, 
"The  road  to  Constantinople,"  marks  merely  a  footpath  to  a 
hamlet. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  elaborate  upon  the  interests  of  the 
United  States  in  the  present  and  prospective  situation.  They 
present  and  enforce  themselves  from  every  point  of  view.  The 
maritime,  commercial,  and  political  genius  of  the  American 
people  will  not  permit  their  government  to  be  indifferent  to 
to  them.  It  will  not  suffer  the  United  States  to  be  made  the 
China  of  the  West.  The  great  question  remains,  and  compre- 
hends the  commercial  and  all  other  subjects  :  What  action  by  the 
United  States  do  its  peace  and  safety  require  to  insure  to  it  the 
rightful  and  most  advantageous  results  of  these  new  inter- 
national relations  and  adjustments?  The  situation  in  the 
Chinese  Orient  is  pregnant  with  wars,  and  wars  in  these  days  of 
fleets  built  of  steel  and  driven  by  steam  are  different  from  those 
of  the  times  of  wpoden  walls  and  sails.  There  is  not  a  habit- 
able spot  on  the  earth's  surface  too  remote  or  secluded  r>r  too 
strong  to  be  exempt  from  the  attacks  of  rapacious  and  un- 
scrupulous military  and  naval  power.  All  history  is  false,  or 
this  is  true,  that  such  wars  are  inevitable.  Their  arena  has  been 
enormously  extended.  The  recent  aggressions  by  the  powers  of 
Europe  upon  China  were  acts  of  war.  It  is  not  long  since  the 
war  between    Japan   and   China  ended  by  depriving  the  latter 


448530 


24      THE  UNITED  ST  A  TES  IN  THE  20th  CENTUR  Y. 

power  of  her  fleet,  by  compelling  her  to  pay  an  enormous  in- 
demnity and  provisionally  to  cede  a  portion  of  her  territory  of 
the  greatest  military  and  naval  importance,  of  which  Japan  was 
in  her  turn  deprived  by  the  duress  of  Russia  and  Germany,  only 
to  see  Russia  substantially  acquire  the  same  territory  and 
Germany  make  a  compensatory  seizure  near  by. 

Next  to  China  the  Pacific  possessions  of  the  United  States  are 
the  most  inviting  objects  of  attack.  Under  existing  conditions 
their  defence  would  be  difficult.  Had  Spain  triumphed  at  Manila 
as  decisively  as  did  the  United  States,  her  navy  could  have 
seized  Honolulu  and  have  operated  from  there  upon  the  entire 
coast  of  the  United  States  from  Mexico  to  the  Yukon.  An  over- 
powering European  force  in  Asiatic  waters  could  do  the  same 
thing  ;  so  could  Japan. 

The  situation  is  plainly  one  of  alternatives.  The  United 
States  must  become  an  efficient  element  in  the  Asiatic  situation, 
or  it  must  entirely  abstain  from  any  participation  in  it,  return  to 
its  own  shores,  receive  the  smallest  possible  share  of  its  com- 
mercial advantages,  and  prepare  for  its  own  defence  against  the 
same  aggressions  which  have  reduced  China  to  her  present  con- 
dition. It  may  be  objected  that  all  this  is  without  precedent. 
So  it  is.  But  all  great  human  evolutions  must  precede  pre- 
cedents in  order  to  create  them. 

The  present  war  has  restored  confidence  to  those  who  feared 
that  the  spirit  of  our  people  and  their  patriotism  had  been 
enervated  by  a  long  and  prosperous  peace.  That  they  would 
support  the  government  no  one  doubted.  But  it  only  faintly 
hoped  that  a  war,  not  onerous  when  compared  with  our  resources, 
would  completely  fuse  all  political  and  sectional  differences  into 
unanimity  of  support  to  the  honor,  dignity  and  safety  of  the 
nation. 

It  is  now  manifest  that  the  United  States  will  be  at  the  con- 
clusion of  this  war  a  great  and  actual  naval  and  military  power. 
Many  thousands  of  her  citizens  will  be  trained  to  modern  war- 
fare on  land  and  sea.  The  military  spirit  has  inspired  the  peo- 
ple. They  have  been  raised  to  a  higher  plane  of  patriotism. 
The  additions  to  our  fleet  have  been  very  considerable,  and  that 
fleet  will   never  be  less.      The  appropriations   for  its   increase, 


THE  UNITED  ST  A  TES  IX  THE  20th  CENTURY.      25 

already  liberal,  will  continue  to  be  so.  The  astounding  victories 
at  Manila  and  at  Santiago  have  convinced  our  people  of  the 
vital  importance  of  the  sea  power.  The  organization  and  oper- 
tion  of  a  great  army  and  navy  will  teach  them  their  own 
strength. 

The  heroism  of  our  soldiers  and  sailors  will  be  a  heritage  of 
national  glory  and  honor.  Our  people  were  carried  to  the  high- 
est top  of  national  pride  by  witnessing  at  Manila  and  Santiago 
(to  paraphrase  Napier),  with  what  majesty  the  American  sailor 
fights.  It  is  also  perceived  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that 
certain  exponents  of  European  opinion,  who  until  recently  spoke 
with  a  condescending  assumption  of  superiority  of  intervening 
in  the  present  contest,  have  abated  their  arrogance  of  expression. 

The  Monroe  doctrine,  in  the  sense  of  an  intention  by  this  Govern- 
ment to  intervene  to  prevent  encroachments  by  European  nations 
upon  the  republics  of  the  Western  hemisphere  has  been  con- 
firmed, and  has  received  a  steadying  force.  The  press  of  Con- 
tinental Europe  has  adopted  during  the  last  few  years  a  fashion 
of  resenting  even  any  theoretical  assertion  of  this  great  principle 
of  American  security,  which  was  recently  characterized  by 
Prince  Bismarck  as  a  doctrine  of  "uncommon  insolence."  It  is 
now  probable  that  any  European  power  will  deliberate  before 
acting  upon  that  assumption. 

The  necessity  for  the  immediate  construction  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  has  been  undeniably  demonstrated  by  recent  events.  The 
voyage  and  perils  of  the  Oregon  are  conclusive  upon  this  pro- 
position. 

The  unpleasant  relations  which  have  existed  between  the 
United  States  and  England  for  so  many  years  were  caused  by  a 
traditional  aversion  which  was  aggravated  by  certain  events  of 
our  civil  war  and  by  many  minor  irritating  controversies,  the 
worst  feature  of  which  is  the  fact  that  few  of  them  have  ever 
been  settled.  But  through  all  this  it  has  been  felt  by  the  people 
of  both  countries  that  a  tie  binds  them  together,  however  much 
they  may  irritate  each  other  by  straining  it. 

Aversion  and  even  specific  controversies  between  peoples  so 
related  are  often  composed  by  the  force  of  events  with  which 
their  connection   seems   merely  ideal   and   sympathetic.      Such 


26       THE  I  XI  TED  ST  A  TES  IN  THE  20th  CENT  I  *R  V. 

pacifying  force*  are  so  subtle  and  impalpable  that  they  can  often 
be  perceived  long  before  they  can  be  described.  The  difficulty 
of  indication  exists  in  the  present  instance,  but,  notwithstanding, 
it  is  very  plain  that  a  change  of  sentiment,  of  expression,  and 
of  the  general  contour  of  relations  between  the  two  nations  has 
taken  place. 

The  conviction,  heretofore  only  imperfectly  felt  and  only  par- 
tially, infrequently,  and  fitfully  acknowledged,  is  now  clearly 
operative,  and  is  openly  and  spontaneously  expressed,  that  the 
125,000,000  people  who  speak  the  English  language,  who  have 
established  representative  governments  and  maintained  per- 
sonal liberty  in  every  portion  of  the  world,  whose  conceptions  of 
faith,  literature,  morals,  education,  popular  government,  and 
individual  freedom  are  cognate  at  all  times  and  everywhere, 
whose  civilization,  though  developed  is  not  decadent,  but  is  still 
progressive,  who  have  heretofore  taken  no  step  backward  in  an 
expansion  of  influence  and  empire  without  comparison  in  history, 
are  amicably  approaching  each  other  under  the  pressure  of  a 
great  human  evolution. 

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